Chapter XXVIII: Front Matter (28)

Sir, some may think you have had a design in abstaining so long from asserting the divine right of church government, now to come in with it truly. Sir, I look upon this check, as a good providence for your great sparing and abstaining in that point, and must bear witness to many passages of God's good hand in it, in not suffering us to make a stand of our desires concerning religion, either in Scotland or here, albeit we have often set down _mensura voti_ to ourselves; but he has as often moved us step after step to trace back our defections, and make the last innovations a besom to sweep out the former, and the king refused to be a mean to engage in a covenant with himself and others, and so has drawn us, against our wills, and beyond our desires, to perform our duty, and to give a testimony to his truth, that much of God and divine wisdom and design, and little of man and his politic projects, might be seen in the beginning, progress and continuance of the whole work, by this good hand of God: And for this end I hope these queries are brought to your hand at this time.

Sir, your serving the parliament a while, I am confident, has been and will be still, not that they may serve you, but for to serve the Lord Jesus Christ; and that parliament will glory more in their subordination and subservience to him, than in the empire and command over the world.

Sir, we may hear much of the breach of privilege, and of the covenant, in relation to civil rights. Let us remember in the covenant the three orders in the title and preface, three main duties in the body, and the three effects in the close. The covenant begins with the advancement, and ends with the enlargement of the kingdom of Christ, as the substantials and over-word of the whole.

The first article of the seven is Christ, an article like _dies Dominica_ in the week, all the rest are _in Domino_, and subordinate thereunto: And all laws contrary to the will of Christ are acknowledged to be void in his kingdom, and so they should, with far greater reason than the constable's orders against the ordinance of parliament are void in law. But, Sir, Christ's throne is highest, and his privileges supreme as only King and Head of his church, albeit kings and magistrates may be members in it. There is no authority to be balanced with his, nor posts to be set up against his, nor Korahs to be allowed against his Aarons, nor Uzziahs against his Azariahs. Is it so small a thing to have the sword? but they must have the keys also. Truly, Sir, I am confident that the parliament, and both nations will acknowledge themselves engaged under this authority, and as they would not be drawn from it (for we must deny our places, take up our cross, lay aside our love to father or mother, paternal or civil, yea lay down our lives, to aver and confess this truth against all allurements and terrors) so ye would never endeavour to draw us to any other, and whatsoever reflection to the contrary was insinuated by the deliverer of this message, I cannot but impute it to personal passion, which long ago was known to the world, but will never believe the honourable house will allow thereof, as being far beneath their wisdom, and contrary to your merit.

And, Sir, seeing these queries are before you, I am confident that whatever diversity of opinion may be among you in any particular, ye will all hold out Christ's kingdom distinct from the kingdoms of the earth, and that he has appointed the government of his own house, and should rule the same; and that none of this assembly, even for the gaining of their desires in all the points of difference, would by their silence, concealment and connivance, weaken, commutate or sell a part of this fundamental truth, this sovereign interest of Christ; and that ye will all concur to demonstrate the same by clear passages of scripture, or necessary consequences therefrom, and by constant practice of the apostles, which are rules unto us.

Sir, I will close with remembering you of two passages of your letter[265] sent, by order of the house of commons, to the general assembly of the church of Scotland, that you will set out such discipline as, to the utmost of your power, you may exalt Christ the only Lord over the church, his own house, in all his offices, and present the church as a chaste virgin to Christ; and for this end that you were not restrained by the houses in your votes and resolutions, nor bound up to the sense of others, nor to carry on a private design in a civil way, but by your oath were secured against all flattering of your judgment, and engaged thereby according to the house's desire, to use all freedom becoming the integrity of your consciences, the weight of the cause, and the integrity and honour of such an assembly. I will no more, Sir, trouble you, but with one word upon the whole matter, to desire you seriously to consider if this business, whereon the eyes of God are fixed, deserves not a special day of humiliation and prayer, for the Lord's extraordinary assistance and direction of this assembly.

_The Lives of Messrs. ROBERT TRAILS._

Messrs. Robert Trails, the father and son, deserve a place among the Scots Worthies, as they were brought to much trouble for their faithfulness and zeal for our reformation-principles. Old Mr. Robert Trail, one of the ministers of Edinburgh, along with Mr. James Guthrie and others, met in a private house in Edinburgh, and assisted in drawing up a humble address and supplication to the king; but before it was finished, they were apprehended by the managers of the times, and committed prisoners to the castle of Edinburgh, without a hearing; matters went so high at that time, that a simple proposal of petitioning the king for a redress of grievances was reckoned criminal. Mr. Robert Trail was brought Aug. 1661. before the lords of articles, and afterwards before the parliament, where he delivered an excellent speech in his own defence, and pointed out the cruelty and injustice then exercised, and the many false accusations that were exhibited against him and his reverend brethren at that time. This excellent speech of his may be seen in Wodrow's history, vol. I. page 73. After seven months imprisonment he wrote to Mr. Thomas Wylie minister at Kirkudbright. He says, "I need not write to you how matters do here. This I must say, your imprisoned brethren are kindly dealt with by our kind Lord, for whose cause and interest we suffer; and if any of us be straitened, it is not in him, for we have large allowance from him, could we take it. We know it fares the better with us, that you and such as you, mind us at the throne. We are waiting from day to day what men will do with us; at best we are expecting banishment, but our sentence must proceed from the Lord; and whatsoever it shall be as good from him; and whithersoever he shall send us, he will be with us, and shall let us know that the earth is his, and the fulness thereof." This was the resigned Christian temper of these worthies. He was afterwards banished, and took refuge in Holland. On the 19th of July 1677, their persecuting fury also broke out against his son Mr. Robert Trail. Being accused with holding field-conventicles, he was brought before the council, where he acknowledged, that he had kept house-conventicles. But being asked, if he had preached at field-conventicles, he referred that to proof, because the law made it criminal. He owned he had conversed with Mr. Welch when on the English border, and that he was ordained to the ministry by Presbyterian ministers at London in 1670. But refusing to clear himself by oath, he was therefore sent to the Bass; major Johnston got 1000 l. Scots for apprehending him. We have no account at what time he was released; but he was afterwards an useful minister to a congregation of dissenters in London; where he continued many years and laboured with great diligence, zeal and success. Here he published his vindication of the Protestant doctrine of justification, prompted thereto by his zeal for that distinguishing doctrine of the reformation; and his sermons on the throne of grace and the Lord's prayer, at the earnest desire of those who heard them. His sermons on Heb. x. 20, 21, 22, 23, 24. intitled, _A stedfast adherence to the profession of our faith_, were published after his death, at the request of many of his hearers. The simplicity and evangelical strain of his works have been savoury to many, and will ever be so, while religion and scripture-doctrine are in request.

_FINIS_

CONTENTS.

Page
INTRODUCTION 28
The Life of Mr. Patrick Hamilton, 41
Mr. George Wishart, 46
Mr. Walter Mill, 60
James Stuart Earl of Murray, 64
Mr. John Knox, 77
Mr. George Buchanan, 90
Mr. Robert Rollock, 96
Mr. John Craig, 99
Mr. David Black, 101
Mr. John Davidson, 105
Mr. William Row, 108
Mr. Andrew Melvil, 111
Mr. Patrick Simpson, 119
Mr. Andrew Duncan, 126
Mr. John Scrimzeor, 129
Mr. John Welch, 132
Mr. Robert Boyd, 152
Mr. Robert Bruce, 154
Mr. Josias Welch, 162
John Gordon Viscount of Kenmuir, 164
Mr. Robert Cunningham, 181
Mr. James Mitchel, 183
Mr. Alexander Henderson, 189
Mr. George Gillespie, 196
Mr. John M'Clelland, 200
Mr. David Calderwood, 205
Mr. Hugh Binning, 210
Mr. Andrew Gray, 216
Mr. James Durham, 220
Mr. Samuel Rutherford, 229
Archibald Campbel Marquis of Argyle, 239
Mr. James Guthrie, 254
John Campbel Earl of Loudon, 264
Mr. Robert Bailey, 275
Mr. David Dickson, 279
Sir Archibald Johnston, Lord Wariston, 287
Mr. James Wood, 299
Mr. William Guthrie, 303
Mr. Robert Blair, 318
Mr. Hugh M'Kail, 336
Mr. John Nevay, 354
Mr. John Livingston, 357
Mr. John Semple, 366
Mr. James Mitchel, 371
Mr. John Welwood, 384
William Gordon of Earlstoun, 389
Messrs. John Kid and John King, 392
Mr. John Brown, 395
Henry Hall of Haugh-head, 398
Mr. Richard Cameron, 401
David Hackston of Rathillet, 410
Robert Ker of Kersland, 415
Mr. Donald Cargil, 419
Mr. Walter Smith, 433
Mr. Robert Garnock, 437
Mr. Robert M'Ward, 455
Captain John Paton, 458
John Nisbet of Hardhill, 472
Mr. Alexander Peden, 485
Mr. John Blackadder, 499
Mr. James Renwick, 503
Mr. Alexander Moncrief, 528
Mr. Angus M'Bean, 533
Mr. Thomas Hog, 536
Mr. Robert Fleming, 549
Mr. Alexander Shields 557
Mr. John Dickson, 577
Sir Robert Hamilton of Preston, 584
Mr. William Vetch, 594
John Balfour of Kinloch, 607
A speech of Lord Warriston's, 608
The lives of Messrs. Trails. 613

ERRATA.

Page 262. Line 5. from the foot, after _cried_, read, _The covenants, the covenants shall yet be Scotland's reviving_.

P. 292. l. 18. from the foot, for 1657, r. 1651.

P. 505. l. 29. for _in_ r. _from_.

P. 448. l. 29. for _Fanquirs_ r. _Tanquirs_.

P. 452. l. 7. for _Learmoril_ r. _Learmond_.

P. 499. l. 10. from the foot, for _Fullialen_ r. _Tullialen_.

P. 500. foot note, for _Stirleg_ r. _Stirling_.

P. 502. l. 17. for _first_ r. _farther_.

P. 603. foot note, last line, for _they_ r. _the king_.

FOOTNOTES

[1] Mr Renwick's life wrote by Mr Shields and published _anno_ 1724.

[2] Of these records belonging to the state carried away by Cromwel to secure our dependence on England, there were 85 hogsheads lost Dec. 18, 1660, in a ship belonging to Kirkaldy, as she was returning with them from London. And as for the church records and registers, a great many of them also (either through the confusion of the then civil wars, or falling into the hands of the prelates while prelacy prevailed in Scotland) are also a-missing. PREFACE to Stevenson's History.

[3] Mr Wodrow in history.

[4] Sure 'tis a serious thing to die; my soul
What a strange moment must it be when near
Thy journey's end, thou hast the gulph in view!
That awful gulph no mortal e'er repass'd,
To tell what's doing on the other side.

The GRAVE, by Blair

[5] Mr Henry on 1 Cor. xi. 1.

[6] For confirmation of this, see the Edinburgh monthly review for February 1774.

[7] See the parliamentary chronicle, or God on the mount

[8] See act v. parl. 1640 act v. 1644. act xv. 1649.; acts of the general assembly, sess. 26. 1638. sess. 23. 1639. sess. 6. 1642. sess. {illegible} 1647. sess. 31. 1648, &c.

[9] Act v. sess 1. parl. 1. James VII. See James VII. and William and Mary's acts of parliament abridged, p. 42.

[10] Such as Messrs Currie, Ferguson, and Smith of Newburn &c. who, in order to palliate and extenuate the evil of the present backsliding courses, seem to have left no stone unturned to expose or blacken the reforming period.

[11] See more anent patronage and our covenants in the notes, pag. 184 and 185.

[12] Although toleration principles be now espoused, boasted of and gloried in by many, yea by some from whom other things might be expected, yet it is contrary to scripture. See Gen. xxxv. 2. &c. Deut. xiii. 6. Judg. ii. 2. Ezek. xliii. 8. Prov. xvii. 15. Zech. xiii. 2. Rom. xiii. 6. Rev. ii. 14, &c. And how far the civil magistrate is to exert his power in punishing heretics, I shall not at present determine, or whether the word _extirpate_ in our solemn league and covenant extends to the temporal or spiritual sword, only there are different sentiments and expositions, yet sure I am that according to the very nature of things that which is morally good (being a commanded duty) needs no toleration; and that which is morally evil no mortal on earth can lawfully grant an immunity unto: And betwixt these there is no medium in point of truth and duty. And it is observable, that where toleration or toleration principles prevail, real religion never prospers much; and besides all it is of woful consequence, for as in natural bodies antipathies of qualities cause destruction, so in bodies politic different religions, or ways of worship in religion, cause many divisions and distractions, whereby the seamless coat of Christ is like to be torn in pieces, and this oftentimes terminates in the ruin of the whole. _For a kingdom, city or house divided against itself_ (saith Christ) _cannot stand._ And yet some will say, That toleration is a good thing, for by it people may live as good as they please. I answer, It is true, but they may also live as bad as they please, and that we have liberty and freedom to serve God in his own appointed way, we have him primarily to thank for it, as for all his other mercies and goodness toward us.

[13] Witness the Quebec act, establishing popery in Canada, 1774.--The Catholic bills granting a toleration to Papists in England and Ireland, 1778, with the gloomy aspect that affairs bear to Scotland since that time.

[14] This doctrine of original sin is plainly evinced from scripture, canonical and apocryphal, Job xiv. 4. Psal. li. 5. Rom. v. 12. _etc._ 1 Cor xv. 21. John iii. 6. Apocrypha Eccles. xxv. {illegible}6; asserted in our church standards, illustrated and defended by many able divines (both ancient and modern) and by our British poets excellently described: Thus,

Adam, now ope thine eyes, and first behold
Th' effects which thy original crime hath wrought
In some, to spring from thee, who never touch'd
Th' excepted tree, nor with the snake conspir'd,
Nor sinn'd thy sin; yet from that sin derive
Corruption to bring forth more violent deeds.

PARADISE LOST. Lib. ix.

Conceiv'd in sin, (O wretched state!)
before we draw our breath:
The first young pulse begins to beat
iniquity and death.

Dr WATTS.

[15] However much these leading articles in the Arminian and Pelagian scheme be now taught and applauded yet sure they are God-dishonouring and soul-ruining tenets, contrary to scripture, God's covenant, and eversive of man's salvation. For,

(1.) They are contrary to scripture, which teaches us that we are no less dependant in working than in being, and no more capable to act from a principle of life of ourselves, than to exist. _The way of man is not in himself, neither is it in man that walketh to direct his steps. What hast thou, O man, but what thou hast received? How to perform that which is good I find not_, Jer. x. 23. 1 Cor. iv. 7. Rom. vii. 18. _So that a man can do nothing, except it be given him from above; and no man can come unto me except the Father draw him_, saith Christ, John iii, 27. vi. 44. See Con. ch. ix. § 3. Article of the church of England 10. And for good works, however far they may be acceptable to God in an approbative way (as being conformable to his command, and agreeable to the holiness of his nature) yet we are assured from his word that moral rectitude in its very summit can never render one acceptable in his sight in a justifying way, _for by the works of the law shall no man be justified; not by works of righteousness that we have done_, &c. Rom. iii. 28. Gal. ii. 16. Tit. iii 5. So though good works or gospel obedience, and true holiness be absolutely necessary unto salvation, (as being the fruits and evidences of a true and lively faith in every believer) the greatest saint being the best moralist, yet there are no ways meritorious of man's salvation; no, this depends upon God's eternal purposes, Rom. ix. 11. Eph. i. 4.--We find it often said in scripture, that it shall be rendered to every man _according to his works_, Rom. iii. 6. Rev. xxii. 12 &c. but never for their works; yea works (though otherwise materially good in themselves) in an unregenerate man become sinful before God, _for whatsoever is not of faith is sin_, Rom. xiv. 23. although the omitting of them be more dishonouring to him, Rom. viii. 8. Psal. xxvi. 5. Matth. xxiii. 23. See Conf. chap. xvi. § 2,3,7.--And so Luther, Calvin, Diodati, Beza, Perkins, Fisher, Flavel, Owen, Simson, Binning, Dickson, Gray, Rutherford, Durham, Gillespie, Guthrie, Renwick, Pool, Henry, Halyburton, Boston, Marshal and many others.

(2.) They are antipodes to reason, and strike eminently against the very nature of God's covenant, for according to the tenor of the covenant of works, nothing but perfect, personal and perpetual obedience can merit (if any thing in a degenerate creature may be so called) and can any reasonable man look his own conscience in the face and say, that he is the person that can perform this. Again, if we betake ourselves unto the covenant of grace, reason itself might blush and be ashamed once to suppose, that the blood of the immaculate Son of God stood in any need of an addition of man's imperfect works, in order to complete salvation. See Catechising on the Heidelberg catechism on question lii. page 180. Blackwall's _ratio sacra_, page 17, &c.

(3) They must be very dangerous, soul-ruining and Christ dishonouring errors, for it might be counted altogether superfluous for a person to come to a physician for a cure, while he is not in the least suspicious of being infected with any malady: So in like manner, can it be expected that any soul can cordially come (or be brought) to Christ, without a due sense of its infinite distance from God by nature? of the impossibility of making any suitable approaches to him? and of the utter disability to do any thing that may answer the law, holiness and righteousness of God therein, _etc._? _For they that be whole_ (at least think themselves so) _need not a physician_, saith Christ; _and I came, not to call the righteous_ (or such as think themselves so) _but sinners to repentance_, Mark ix. 12.

From hence observe, that whosoever intends to forsake his sin, in order to come to Christ, or effectually to correct vice, before he believes on him, must needs meet with a miserable disappointment, for _without faith it is impossible to please God_, Heb. xi. 6. and in the end sink himself into an immense and bottomless chaos of uncertainties, like one lopping the branches off a tree to kill the root; _no man cometh to the Father but by me, and without me ye can do nothing_, says Christ himself, John xiv. 6. xv. 5. The love of God being the _prima causa_, the obedience and meritorious righteousness of Christ the foundation, source and spring of man's salvation and all true happiness, _for by grace ye are saved_, Eph. 2. 8. And whosoever has been made rightly to know any thing of the depravity of his nature in a lapsed state, or experienced any thing of the free grace of a God in Christ, will be made to acknowledge this, _That it is God that worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure_, Phil. ii. 13. And yet I know it is objected, That it is highly dishonouring to the Author of nature, to argue man to be such a mean and insufficient creature, and that it can never be supposed, that a gracious and merciful God would make such a number of intelligent beings to damn them, or command a sinner to repent and come to Christ, and condemn him for not doing it, if it were not in his own power upon moral suasion to obey, &c. It is true indeed, that in comparison of the irrational insect and inanimate creation, man is a noble creature, both as to his formation, _I am wonderfully made_, Psal cxxxix. 14. and also in his intellectual parts, but much more in his primeval state and dignity, when all the faculties of the mind and powers of the soul stood entire, being endued not only with animal and intelligent, but also heavenly life, _Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels_, Psal. viii. 5. But then in what follows, these objecters seem, either inadvertently, or willingly, to have forgot, (1.) _That man in honour abideth not_, Psal. xlix. 12, (or as the Rabbins read, and some translate it, as Cartwright, Ainsworth, Leigh and Broughton) _Adam in honour abideth not one night_. Adam, by his disobedience, not only introduced a jarr into the whole creation, rendered his posterity decrepit and lame, but also lost all power to any spiritual good, the whole of his intellectual parts concreated with him being either corrupted, darkened, obliterated or lost. Indeed Dr Taylor would have us believe, that what Adam lost, and more, was restored to Noah, Gen. ix. and that man's mental capacities are now the same as Adam's in innocence, saving so far as God sees fit to set any man above or below his standard, some are below Adam in rational endowments and some are above him, of the latter he thinks Sir Isaac Newton was one (doctrine of original sin, page 235. supplement, page 85.) The fallacy of which is so obvious and absurd that it deserves no observation, for every man to his dear bought experience may know, that man now unassisted by all the dark remains of original, natural, moral and political knowledge he is master of, can acquire no certain knowledge of any part of his duty, as to moral good or evil, but by a gradation of labour, slow and multiplied deductions, and much less is he able to bind the strong man and cast him out. And yet all this is no way dishonouring to the great author of nature as to the works of his hands, for although he made man at first, he made him not originally a sinful man, so that it is our sin that is dishonouring to him. _Lo, this have I found out_, says the wisest of men, _that God at first made man upright, but he sought out many inventions_. (2.) That in a proper sense God neither made man to save nor to damn him, but only for his pleasure and the manifestation of his own power and glory, Rev. iv. 11. Conf. chap. ii. § 3. (3.) Although we have lost power to obey, yet he still retains his right to demand obedience, and nothing can be more suitable to the justice, wisdom and sovereignty of God, than to maintain his right to perfect obedience from man whom he originally endued with all power and abilities for what he commanded; neither is he any wise bound to restore that power again to man, which he by his disobedience lost. (4.) All mankind by the fall stand condemned by God's judicial act, _In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die_, Gen. ii. 17. And you'll say, a judge does a malefactor no injury in condemning him, when by the law he is found guilty of death, _and cursed is every one who confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them_, Deut. xxvii. 26.; and much less the supreme Judge of all, who can do nothing wrong to any, in condemning man, _for the wages of sin is death_, Rom. vi. 13. _and hath not the potter power over the clay_, &c.--And finally, if the first Adam's posterity be thus naturally endued with a power to do that which is spiritually good, pray what need was there for the second Adam to die to quicken his elect, Eph. ii. 1.; indeed we are commanded to repent and turn from our iniquities, _turn ye, turn ye, and live_, Ezek. xxxiii. 11. and ye _will not come unto me that ye might have life_, John v. 40. But who, excepting a bold Arminian, will say, that these texts imply a natural power in man to turn, come or not as he pleases. If this were the case, the same Spirit of God would not have said elsewhere, _Draw me and we will run after thee; turn thou us, and we shall be turned_, Cant. i. 4. Jer. xxxi. 18; _surely after I was turned, I repented_, ver. 19; it was not before I was turned I repented: No, this command and complaint only points out our duty, but the prayers and promises in the word shew us our ability for the performance thereof. And yet after all, proud ignorant man must needs be his own Saviour, and if God say not so too, Cain will be wroth and his countenance fall, Gen. iv. 5. _But let the potsherds strive with the potsherds of the earth; but we unto him that striveth with his Maker._

[16] Mr John Dickson in a letter while prisoner in the Bass.

[17] See Josephus _de bello Jud._ lib. v. and vi.; and of this destruction Eusebius lib. iii. chap. 6.; and the life of Titus Vespasian.

[18]
Well may we tremble now! what manners reign?
But wherefore ask we? when a true reply
Would shock too much. Kind heaven, avert events,
Whose fatal nature might reply too plain!
---- Vengeance delay'd but gathers and ferments;
More formidably blackens in the wind,
Brews deeper draughts of unrelenting wrath,
And higher charges the suspended storm.

Young's NIGHT THOUGHTS.

[19] Here Christ's crown rights not only became the word of their testimony, but also the very motto of their civil and military banners, insomuch as when that gallant Scots army lay at Dunce muir, (_anno_ 1639) each captain had his colours flying at his tent door, whereon was this inscription in letters of gold, CHRIST'S CROWN AND COVENANT. Stevenson's History, Vol. II. p. 729.

[20] Here it neither can nor need be expected, that, in such a number of lives they could be all found alike precise in point of public testimony; yet I would fain expect, that what is here recorded of them might be somewhat equivalent to whatever blemishes they otherwise had, seeing their different sentiments are also recorded: Otherwise I presume it were hard to please all parties. For Mr Wodrow has been charged by some (and that not without some reason) that, in favours of some of his indulged _quondam_ brethren, in the last volume of his history, he has not only smothered some matters of fact relative to the more honest part of our sufferers, but even given the most faithful part of their contendings the epithets of unwarrantable heats, heights, flights, extravagancies, extremities, _etc._ [in his history, vol. II. p. 133, 298, 584.] Again, he and Mr Currie (in his essay on separation, p. 160, and 211) have blamed the publishers of the cloud of witnesses (but on very slender grounds) for corrupting, perverting and omitting some testimonies of our late sufferers, whom they say, came "not to the same length of principles with themselves, or those they had pickt out for that purpose." To avoid both rocks, all possible care has been here taken, and yet it must needs meet with its fate also, according to the various capacities, tempers and dispositions of the readers (and why not censure if blame-worthy?): Yet it is hoped that the honesty, labour and diligence used therein, will counterpoise all other reflections or exceptions.

[21] See collection of acts of parliament (said to be Andrew Stevenson's) preface to part II.

[22] Mr Rutherford, in a letter to the Earl of Cassils. See his letters, part I. epist. 23.

[23] Fuller in the preface to his lives in the holy state.

[24] It is not at all pretended that all and every part of their works, is here inserted, but only those most commonly in print or those come to the knowledge of the publishers.

[25] Vid. Bede's ecclesiastical history, lib. i. ch. 13. Buch. history, book v.

[26] Book iii. cap. 8.

[27] Hind let loose, period II. page 11, prior edition.

[28] The queen and Darnly became so irreconcileable, that as he never rested until he had caused the Italian Rizzio to be murdered, the queen never rested till she caused her husband to be murdered, and divine justice after all never rested till it had caused her to be murdered; so that blood followed blood, till the whole knot was destroyed.

DEFOE'S memoirs, p. 59.

[29] Sir James Melvil of Halhill, in his memoirs, from page 173 to page 178, seems to insinuate, that altho' the earl of Moray was at first of a gentle nature, religiously educated, well inclined, good, wise, &c. yet when he was advanced to the helm of government, through the mean of flatterers, he became more proud and rough in his proceedings, which, together with his too remiss conduct anent his own preservation after so many warnings, was the cause of his own ruin.--And says further, That he was compelled sometimes to receive and apply divers sentences of Solomon concerning chancellors and rulers to this good regent, which he ordered him to commit to writing that he might carry them in his pocket: But before he was slain, this different gloss on the life and character of Moray is contradicted, in substance, by the historians, Knox and Buchanan.

[30] Buchanan's history, vol. II. P. 392.

[31] Spotswood's history, P. 234.

[32] In the memoirs of the duke of Sully, prime minister to Henry IV of France, Vol. 1. page 392. Edin. edit. 1773, there is the following note: James de Bethune, arch bishop of Glasgow in Scotland, came to Paris in quality of ambassador in ordinary from the queen of Scotland, and died there in 1603, aged 66 years, having 57 years suffered great vicissitudes of fortune, since the violent death of cardinal de Bethune arch-bishop of St. Andrews his uncle, which happened in 1646: His epitaph may be still seen in the church of St. John de Lateran.

[33] Vide Calderwood's history, page 31.

[34] In the space of two or three days, there were about 70000 protestants murdered in cold blood in Paris, and other parts of France. This massacre was begun in the night of St. Bartholomew's day in the reign of Charles IX. of that kingdom; the king of Navarre, afterward Henry the Great, narrowly escaped on that occasion, for he was then in Paris, on account of the solemnization of his marriage with Charles's sister, which marriage the papists had contrived, in order to draw as many protestants into that city as possible, that they might have them in their power. See the account of this mournful event at large in Sully's memoirs, volume I.

[35] Spotswood says he was born within the parish of Killearn, at house of Drunmakill. History, page 325.

[36] In the midst of these evils, he (the king) caused to put hands on that notable man Mr. George Buchanan: But by the merciful providence of God he escaped the rage of those that sought his life, although with great difficulty, and remains alive to this day, (anno 1566) to the glory of God, the great honour of this nation, and to the comfort of those who delight in learning and virtue.

KNOX's history.

[37] A little before his death, he returned home from court to visit his friends, during which time king James sent him several messages, and, at last, a very threatening letter to return in twenty days, but he, finding his death approaching, sent him back a letter of admonition relative to the government of his kingdom, and well-being of his council, and, at the end, told him, that he could run the hazard of his majesty's displeasure without danger, for that "by the time limited, he would be where few kings or great men should be honoured to enter;" at reading which it is said the king wept.

[38] His works that are now extant, make two folio volumes.--His treatise, de jure regni apud Scotos, was condemned by act of parliament, about two years after his death, which happened at Edinburgh on the 28th of September, 1582. These pamphlets going under the name of the witty exploits of George Buchanan, seem to be spurious, although it is true he pronounced many witty expressions, many of which have (I suppose) never been committed to writing, and some of which I could mention, were it here necessary.

[39] Mira et vera relatio de Davidis Black transmigratione in coelestem patriam.

[40] Mr Robert Montgomery, minister in Stirling, had made a simoniacal purchase of the Arch-bishopric of Glasgow from the earl of Lennox, for which he was to give him five hundred pounds sterling of yearly rent. Accordingly on the 8th of March 1582. Montgomery came to Glasgow, with a number of soldiers, and pulled the minister in the pulpit by the sleeve, saying, "Come down sirrah;" the minister replied. "He was placed there by the kirk, and would give place to none who intruded themselves without order." Much confusion and bloodshed ensued in the town. The presbytery of Stirling suspended Montgomery, in which the general assembly supported them: Lennox obtained a commission from the king to try and bring the offenders to justice. Before that commission court met, the earls of Marr and Gowrie, the master of Oliphant, young Lochlevin, &c. carried the king to Ruthven castle, and there supplicated him to revoke his commission to Lennox, which he did: and the king ordered him to leave the country, which, after some delays, he also did, retiring to Berwick. Afterwards two persons concerned in the affair at Ruthven, were charged to leave the realm upon pain of corporal punishment, because the council had adjudged that affair to be treason against the king and government. The earl of Gowrie was ordered to leave the kingdom, notwithstanding he had, at the command of the council, confessed that the fact at Ruthven was treason.

[41] The persons concerned in the raid of Ruthven, assembled an army at Stirling and took the castle, from thence they sent a supplication to the king to redress their grievances. In the mean time, the earl of Gowrie, lingering about Dundee was apprehended and committed to prison, which discouraged the party at Stirling very much, so that they fled in the night, and got to Berwick; the captain of the castle and three others were hanged; Gowrie was likewise executed on the 2d of May 1584.

[42] Bennet, in his memorial, says, That while he (James) grasped at arbitrary power, to which he discovered an inclination thro' the whole of his reign, it has been observed, and not without good reason, that he made himself mean and contemptible to all the world abroad, though affecting to swagger over his parliament and people at home, which he did in a manner that was far from making or showing him great.

[43] Mr James Melvil was confined at last to Berwick, where he ended his days, Jan, 1614.

[44] The epigram is as follows,

Cur stant clausi Anglis libri duo, regia in arca,
Lumina cæca duo, pollubra sicca duo?
Num sensum, cultumque Dei tenet Anglia clausum,
Lumine cæca suo, sorde sepulta suo?
Romano et ritu, dum regalem instruit aram
Purpuream pingit religiosa lupam.

[45] Spotswood doth not ascribe any thing of the form of presbyterian church government to Mr. Knox, because they admitted of superintendents in the church in his time, which he thinks was Episcopacy: but says, That Mr. Andrew Melvil brought this innovation (as he is pleased to call it) from Geneva about the year 1575. Hist. p. {illegible} &c.

[46] _The Protestation offered to the estates convened in Parliament at Perth, in the beginning of July_, anno 1606.

The earnest desire of our hearts is to be faithful, and in case we would have been silent and unfaithful at this time, when the undermined estate of Christ's kirk craveth a duty at our hands, we should have locked up our hearts with patience, and our mouths with taciturnity, rather than to have impeached any with our admonition. But that which Christ commandeth, necessity urgeth, and duty wringeth out of us, to be faithful office bearers in the kirk of God, no man can justly blame us, providing we hold ourselves within the bounds of that Christian moderation, which followeth God, without injury done to any man, especially these whom God hath lapped up within the skirts of his own honourable stiles and names, calling them, Gods upon earth.

Now therefore, my lords, convened in this present parliament, under the most high and excellent majesty of our dread sovereign, to your honours is our exhortation, that ye would endeavour with all singleness of heart, love and zeal, to advance the building of the house of God, reserving always into the Lord's own hand that glory, which he will communicate neither with man nor angel, viz. to prescribe from his holy mountain a lively pattern, according to which his own tabernacle should be formed: Remembering always that there is no absolute and undoubted authority in this world, excepting the sovereign authority of Christ the king, to whom it belongeth as properly to rule the kirk according to the good pleasure of his own will, as it belongeth to him to save his kirk by the merit of his own sufferings. All other authority is so intrenched within the marches of divine commandment, that the least overpassing of the bounds set by God himself, bringeth men under the fearful expectation of temporal and eternal judgments. For this cause, my lords, let that authority of your meeting in this present parliament, be like the ocean, which, as it is greatest of all other waters, so it containeth itself better within the coasts and limits appointed by God, than any rivers of fresh running water have done.

Next, remember that God hath let you to be nursing fathers to the kirk, craving of your hands, that ye would maintain and advance, by your authority that kirk, which the Lord hath fashioned by the uncounterfeited work of his own new creation, as the prophet speaketh, _He hath made us, and not we ourselves_; but that that ye should presume to fashion and shape a new portraiture of a kirk, and a new form of divine service which God in his word hath not before allowed; because, that were you to extend your authority farther than the calling ye have of God doth permit, as namely, if ye should (as God forbid) authorize the authority of bishops, and their pre eminence above their brethren, ye should bring into the kirk of God the ordinance of man, and that thing which the experience of preceding ages hath testified to be the ground of great idleness, palpable ignorance, insufferable pride, pitiless tyranny, and shameless ambition in the kirk of God. And finally, to have been the ground of that antichristian hierarchy, which mounteth up on the steps of pre eminence of bishops, until that man of sin came forth, as the ripe fruit of man's wisdom, whom God shall consume with the breath of his own mouth. Let the sword of God pierce that belly which brought forth such a monster; and let the staff of God crush that egg which hath hatched such a cockatrice; and let not only that Roman antichrist be thrown down from the high bench of his usurped authority, but also let all the steps, whereby he mounted up to that unlawful pre eminence, be cut down, and utterly abolished in this land.

Above all things, my lords, beware to strive against God, with an open and displayed banner, by building up again the walls of Jericho, which the Lord hath not only cast down, but hath also laid them under a horrible interdiction and execration; so that the building of them again must needs stand to greater charges to the builders, than the re-edifying of Jericho to Hiel the Bethelite, in the days of Achab; For he had nothing but the interdiction of Joshua, and the curse pronounced by him, to stay him from building again of Jericho; but the noblemen and estates of this realm, have the reverence of the oath of God, made by themselves, and subscribed with their own hands, in the confession of faith, called the king's majesty's published oftener than once or twice, subscribed and sworn by his most excellent majesty, and by his highness, the nobility, estates, and whole subjects of this realm, to hold them back from setting up the dominion of bishops. Because, it is of verity, that they subscribed and swore the said confession, containing not only the maintenance of the true doctrine, but also of the discipline protested within the realm of Scotland.

Consider also, that this work cannot be set forward, without the great slander of the gospel, defamation of many preachers, and evident hurt and loss of the people's souls committed to our charge. For the people are brought almost to the like case, as they were in Syria, Arabia and Egypt, about the 600th year of our Lord, when the people were so shaken and brangled with contrary doctrines, some affirming, and others denying, the opinion of Eutyches, that in end they lost all assured persuasion of true religion; and within short time thereafter, did cast the gates of their hearts open to the peril, to receive that vile and blasphemous doctrine of Mahomet; even so the people in this land are cast into such admiration to hear the preachers, who damned so openly this stately pre eminence of bishops, and then, within a few years after, accept the same dignity, pomp and superiority in their own persons, which they before had damned in others, that the people know not what way to incline, and in the end will become so doubtful in matters of religion and doctrine, that their hearts will be like an open tavern, patent to every guest that chooses to come in.

We beseech your honours to ponder this in the balance of a godly and prudent mind, and suffer not the gospel to be slandered by the behaviour of a few preachers, of whom we are bold to affirm, that if they go forward in this defection, not only abusing and appropriating the name of bishops to themselves, which is common to all the pastors of God's kirk; but also taking upon themselves such offices, that carry with them the ordinary charge of governing the civil affairs of the country, neglecting their flocks, and seeking to subordinate their brethren to their jurisdiction; if any of them, we say, be found to step forward in this cause of defection, they are more worthy, as rotten members, to be cut off from the body of Christ, than to have superiority and dominion over their brethren, within the kirk of God.

This pre eminence of bishops is that Dagon, which once already fell before the ark of God in this land, and no band of iron shall be able to hold him up again. This is that pattern of that altar brought from Damascus, but not shewed to Moses in the mountain, and therefore it shall fare with it as it did with that altar of Damascus, it came last in the temple, and went first out. Likewise the institution of Christ was anterior to this pre eminence of bishops, and shall consist and stand within the house of God, when this new fashion of the altar shall go to the door.

Remember, my lords, that in times past your authority was for Christ, and not against him. Ye followed the light of God, and strived not against it; and, like a child in the mother's hand, ye said to Christ, _Draw us after thee_. God forbid, that ye should now leave off, and fall away from your former reverence borne to Christ, in presuming to lead him, whom the Father hath appointed to be leader of you. And far less to trail the holy ordinances of Christ by the cords of your authority, at the heels of the ordinances of men.

And albeit your honours have no such intention to do any thing which may impair the honour of Christ's kingdom; yet remember, that spiritual darkness, flowing from a very small beginning, doth so insinuate and thrust itself into the house of God, as men can hardly discern by what secret means the light was dimmed, and darkness creeping in got the upper hand; and in the end, at unawares, all was involved in a misty cloud of horrible apostacy.

And lest any should think this our admonition out of time, in so far as it is statute and ordained already by his majesty, with advice of his estates in parliament, that all ministers, provided to prelacies, should have vote in parliament; as likewise, the General Assembly (his majesty being present thereat) hath found the same lawful and expedient, We would humbly and earnestly beseech all such, to consider,

_First_, That the kingdom of Jesus Christ, the office bearers and laws thereof, neither should, nor can suffer any derogation, addition, diminution or alteration besides the prescript of his holy word, by any inventions or doings of men civil or ecclesiastical. And we are able, by the grace of God, and will offer ourselves to prove, that this bishopric to be erected, is against the word of God, the ancient fathers, and canons of the kirk, the modern most learned and godly divines, the doctrine and constitution of the kirk of Scotland since the first reformation of religion within the same country, the laws of the realm, ratifying the government of the kirk by the general and provincial assemblies, presbyteries and sessions; also against the well and honour of the king's most excellent majesty, the well and honour of the realm and quietness thereof; the established estate and well of the kirk in the doctrine, discipline and patrimony thereof; the well and honour of your lordships, the most ancient estate of this realm, and finally, against the well of all, and every one, the good subjects thereof, in soul, body and substance.

_Next_, That the act of parliament, granting vote in parliament to ministers, is with a special provision, that nothing thereby be derogatory or prejudicial to the present established discipline of the kirk and jurisdiction thereof in general and synodical assemblies, presbyteries and sessions.

_Thirdly_ and lastly, The General Assembly (his majesty sitting, voting and consenting therein) fearing the corruption of that office, hath circumscribed and bounded the same with a number of cautions; all which, together with such others as shall be concluded upon by the assembly, were thought expedient to be inserted in the body of the act of parliament, that is to be made for confirmation of their vote in parliament, as most necessary and substantial parts of the same. And the said assembly hath not agreed to give thereunto the name of bishops, for fear of importing the old corruption, pomp and tyranny of papal bishops, but ordained them to be called commissioners for the kirk to vote in parliament. And it is of verity, that according to these cautions, neither have these men, now called bishops, entered to that office of commissionary to vote in parliament, neither since their ingyring, have they behaved themselves therein. And therefore, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall hold that great court of parliament to judge both the quick and the dead at his glorious manifestation; and in name of his kirk in general, so happily and well established within this realm, and whereof the said realm hath reaped the comfortable peace and unity, free from heresy, schism and dissention these 46 years by-past; also in name of our presbyteries, from which we have our commission; and in our own names, office bearers and pastors within the same, for discharging of our necessary duty, and disburdening of our consciences in particular, We Except and Protest against the said bishopric, and bishops, and the erection, or confirmation or ratification thereof at this present parliament; most humbly craving, that this our protestation may be admitted by your honours, and registrate among the statutes and acts of the same, in case (as God forbid) these bishoprics be erected, ratified, or confirmed therein.

_This Protestation was subscribed by the ministers, whose names follow,_

MESSRS. Andrew Melvil, James Melvil, William Scott, James Ross, John Carmichael, John Gillespie, William Erskine, Colin Campbel, James Muirhead, John Mitchel, John Davidson, John Coldon, John Abernethy, James Davidson, Adam Bannantyne, John Row, William Buchanan, John Kennedy, John Ogilvie, John Scrimgeour, John Malcolm, James Burden, Isaac Blackfoord, Isaac Strachan, James Row, William Row, Robert Merser, Edmund Myles, John French, Patrick Simpson, John Dykes, William Young, William Cooper, William Keith, Hugh Duncan, James Merser, Robert Colvil, William Hog, Robert Wallace, David Barclay, John Weemes, William Cranston.

[47] These were, 1. Kneeling at the communion. 2. Private communion. 3. Private baptism. 4. Observation of holydays. 5. Confirmation of children.

[48] See them in Calderwood's history, page 708.

[49] Vide Mr. Welch's dispute with Gilbert Brown the papist, in preface.

[50] The first was called Dr. Welch, a doctor of medicine, who was unhappily killed, upon an innocent mistake in the Low Countries.

Another son he had most lamentably lost at sea, for when the ship in which he was, was sunk, he swam to a rock in the sea, but starved there for want of necessary food and refreshment, and when sometime afterward his body was found upon the rock, they found him dead in a praying posture upon his bended knees, with his hands stretched out, and this was all the satisfaction his friends and the world had upon his lamentable death.